


The Halloween Misadventures of Zack and Braden

by letmebeabard



Category: Straight!?
Genre: M/M, NSFW
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-01
Updated: 2019-11-01
Packaged: 2021-01-16 09:27:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21268787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/letmebeabard/pseuds/letmebeabard
Summary: Halloween is upon us and Zack and Braden have no plans. However, that all changes when Mom-Fucker´s car breaks down. Get ready for cheesy Halloween aesthetics and Zack´s unending pining :)





	The Halloween Misadventures of Zack and Braden

**Author's Note:**

> This fanfic is set in the world of Straight!? An adult visual novel by Aaryn. You can find more info on his patreon. The story takes place somewhere around chapter 7/8, so beware, spoilers galore ahead. 
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. While the story is mine, I give my permission to the devs of Straight!? to do with as they please without expecting any compensation.

“Who can tell me where does imagination come from? Simply put, our ability to create images and other stimuli in our minds?” asked the teacher, a thirty-something years old woman with short choppy brown hair. I like her, her classes are always interesting, and her uniform consists of faded jeans and flannels.   
“Thalamus?” sounded from the front row.  
“While you are not entirely wrong, it is a very unimaginative answer,” she put the special emphasis on the word imagine and chuckled at her joke.   
“Freud says, that they are created when we desire, filter them through our preconsciousness into derivatives we can express. But we all know what I think about Freud.”  
More laughter. She does not like Freud. Who can really blame her though, that guy had some serious issues.   
“Jung, on the other hand, believed that we basically download them from the collective unconsciousness of the whole human race. They are categorised into a plethora of archetypes, such as…” she continued on and on. Even though my mind was trying to imagine other things, I forced myself to focus and listen. She went on and on, but then, finally, she looked at the clock on the wall and her eyes widened.  
“Well, it seems we are out of time for today, don´t forget the reading on Leuner´s catathymic imagining. And those who want to get a bit of a head start can move onto the chapter on thoughts and thinking, we´ll be starting that next week. Enjoy your Halloween everyone.”

-

As I step out of the building, I am pleasantly surprised by the weather. While it solidly rained for the better part of the last two weeks, now the sun was out and there were no clouds in sight. I swiftly walk to the dorms, picking up my swimming gear and making my way to the pool.   
“Look who´s not late for once!” Mikhail was leaning on the wall at his usual spot.   
“Don´t make me regret it,” I said. We fist-bumped and headed to the locker room. As we neared it, we heard some raised voices, and then, unsurprisingly, Mom-Fucker stormed out. We entered the locker room and met three other guys from the team looking annoyed.  
“Anything I should worry about or is just the usual mood?” Mikhail asked the room. One of the guys snickered and shook his head.  
“Eh, he´s just bitchy that´s all,” he said. We started undressing and Mikhail started small-talking. It´s interesting how naturally these things come to some people. I wonder what sort of fucked-up shit needs to happen for Mikhail to be derailed from his usual effortless nonchalance. How easier life must be when your anxieties don´t insert themselves into every moment of your conscious life. Or maybe he just somehow managed to control them. I should probably ask him, he´s given me excellent advice in the past.  
“Earth to Zack! Dude, you´re spacing out again,” Mikhail laughed at me.   
“It´s called thinking, you should try it sometimes,” I respond and pull up my speedos. Together we walk back out to the pool and start stretching.   
“Listen up, everybody! I know it´s Halloween soon, but I expect you to behave yourself. I swear to god if you turn into a bunch of fat-asses over candy, I will have you do laps until you pass out!” Ah, the Great Holiday Fat-ass Talk. Mikhail has warned me about it. Apparently, the coach has the same talk prepared for every major holiday. He finishes just when we are about done stretching, with almost eerie precision. A shrill sound of a whistle and we all jump into the pool. The water is cold but welcoming, once again I´m happy I made it on the team. The world is so calm and composed when your head is underwater. The perfect place to think without people complaining that you´re spacing out. I easily fall into the rhythm of controlled breaths and repetitive movements, my thoughts spiralling back to the topic of collective consciousness. 

The sound of a whistle snaps me out of my reverie.   
“Fifteen minutes break,” the coach shouts and we all swim to the side of the pool, some going out. I jump up and sit on the side of the pool, legs still swinging in water as Mikhail spreads his arms and leans his head on the tiles next to me, like usual.  
“So, what are you two planning this fine Halloween?” Mikhail started the conversation.   
“Nothing really, why? You´re doing something fun?” I gave a half-hearted reply. It´s not like I can do much with the big fat zero on my bank account.   
“You bet, I got my days full. I´m helping out at a Halloween carnival in the nearby town tomorrow, with my roomie and his class. And the next day I´ll be rushing a paper so it´s done before the party,” he says, pushing his legs up so that he is parallel with the water surface. I see his bulge bopping in and out of the water before I force my eyes to look elsewhere.  
“The neon party that has posters all over the campus?”   
“It´s called a Full Moon Party, and yes that one. Let me guess, you weren´t fast enough to get a ticket?”   
“It was never on the table for me, that thing is so fucking expensive,” I sigh wistfully.   
“I´m sure you two lovebirds can entertain yourselves.” He pokes my side and I swat him away as he laughs. But the damage was done, my thoughts steered towards Braden. The best way of preventing me from doing anything productive. What are we going to do, though? Now that we have the paid channels, there is bound to be something good right? I remember the first time we watched a movie together. The peaceful rising and falling of his chest as he fell asleep on me. And then all the other times, when he was watching TV on my bed, giving me a view of his beautiful ass. Ugh, all those times I wanted to touch it. Laughter brings me back to reality.  
“You´re hopeless, dude, hopeless!” Mikhail said.  
“What?”   
“Nothing, I just told you that my grandma is a goat and the apocalypse is upon us and you didn´t even blink. “   
“Oh, yeah, my mind was elsewhere,” I reply.  
“More like ass-where,” he laughed again.  
“Dude, stop reading my mind.” I pushed his shoulder and his upper body slid underwater. And before I knew it he tugged on my leg. Hard. Water surrounded me and we spent the rest of the break trying to drown each other. Needless to say, neither one of us managed.

-

I was just chilling in my bed, aimlessly channel surfing, when Braden came in.  
“Bro, I am sweaty as fuck, but I don´t even care, coz I´m so hungry. I had to skip lunch today and then we had practice and I am running on fumes. You wanna hit the cafeteria?” Braden asked me, eyes suggesting that half of his sanity has already left him.   
“Sure!” I quip and throw on some clothes. We walk together down to the cafeteria and get us each a plate of a very sad combination. Something that tries hard to look like mashed potatoes and an unidentifiable piece of meat swimming in a light brown liquid. Yummy…  
“At my high school, we called this the UBS. It was a very common lunch,” said Braden poking the contents of his plate.  
“Sounds like a disease,” I said as I put a bit in my mouth. It wasn´t nightmarish, just bad. Kinda plastic-y.  
“You´re thinking of IBS, this is Universal Brown Sauce. It is what´s left when they´re done making whatever else they´re making.”   
“Well, that´s depressing. Anyway, we never talked about Halloween, what do you want to do?” I asked, hoping to turn the conversation to a better topic.  
“Right! I don´t know, bro. It´s not like we have so many options. Movie night?” I hoped he would say that I already quietly marvelled at the thought of Braden´s head in my lap. Braden´s head in my lap… Suddenly, a very different image flashed in my head and I felt my dick wake up from its slumber. I snapped myself back to reality.  
“Movie night sounds great, hopefully, there will be something creepy, “ I said.  
“Fuck no, dude, I hate scary movies. There is never any story, all the people are stupid, and you can´t see what´s happening half the time because everything is so dark,” Brandon started talking, but a little to fast to be believable.  
“Oh my god, you´re scared!” I couldn´t hold back the chuckle.  
“No, I´m not!” Braden exclaimed, but the red in his cheeks suggested otherwise.   
“I´ll be there, you can hold my hand,” I said as a joke before I imagined him actually doing that, and my insides twisted, suddenly yearning for the exact thing.  
“Idiot, I can handle your stupid scary movies! We can watch as many as you´d like,” Braden said with his jaw clenched tight, trying not to meet my eyes. The conversation then hit a standstill. Eventually, I asked:  
“What was your favourite costume as a child?” And he just ignored me. But before I could spiral down the rabbit hole of what-ifs and other depressing scenarios, he seemed to notice my face and instantly understood what is happening in my head. Damn, am I really that readable?  
“Buzz Lightyear. Mom says I refused to go as anything else when I was little, but I only barely remember it,” he blurted out.   
“Not a bad choice,” I replied.  
“Yeah, I saw pictures, apparently I and several other kids from my neighbourhood did that. A solid mini-army of Buzzes.” I laughed at that image. We continued eating our UBSs and eventually made it back to our room. I kicked down my shorts and took off my t-shirt as usual. Braden did the same, but he wrapped a towel around his waist.  
“Shower time! You coming?” Like usual, I was rendered speechless for a second. I was still not used to it.   
“Sure.” I almost choked on the word but grabbed my towel nonetheless.   
“Lead the way.” I motioned at him, grabbing my other necessities. 

We made it to the showers, and I saw Braden´s dick whip out from the jockstrap. I gave it a good second, before I looked away, trying to avoid unnecessary erection. I almost failed at that, considering I felt the blood rushing to my crotch area as I stepped under the water. But alas, two other guys entered the showers, loudly talking with each other. Suddenly separated from Braden by one of them, the spell was broken, and the shower became a menial task. The guys´ conversation about a girl named Hannah, and her substantial physical attributes, further helped prevent any other erections. I quickly washed and made my way back to the room. Plopping myself on the bed, looking towards the door, expecting Braden´s usual little show. I was not disappointed. As soon as the doors closed, the towel unfurled to the floor, revealing the bright orange mesh jockstrap. Braden struck his usual pose and deeply inhaled.  
“I feel human again.”  
“God, what were you before, a werewolf?” I tried to throw in a bit of Halloween humour.  
“Haha, I may not smell like flowers when I´m sweaty but I´m still far from a wet dog,” he retorted.  
“So, what now?” I asked.  
“I was kinda hoping for a massage. Blayke really brought his A-game today and I feel like a broken glowstick,” he plopped on his bed.  
“Say no more, where does it hurt, bro?” I asked, moving across the room, kneeling above Braden´s back.  
“My left thigh is kinda fucked up, but mostly it´s my shoulders.” A thigh… well, he asked for it. He can´t blame me for having my hands so close to his butt if he wants his thighs massaged.   
“I´ll start at the shoulders and work my way down.” And I did so. Soon, the room was filled with the sounds of Braden´s pleasure. I rubbed and kneaded his shoulders for a while before I started working on his spine. Making my way to his sweet spot. Just as I was about to do the magic, I felt him sharply inhale, clearly expecting it. In the spur of the moment, not changing my rhythm at all, I veered away from it and heard a sigh. I smiled for myself. Braden was completely at the mercy of my fingers. Having such power was intoxicating. I made my way back to his sweet spot and felt him preparing again. And again I went in a different direction, not giving any sign of doing it intentionally. Except, I totally was. Every time I neared the spot, he almost shivered with anticipation. Until the moment he stopped. I noticed he stopped preparing for it, even though the sounds made it clear he was not asleep. So I went for it, I went for it hard.   
“Fuck!” came out of Braden´s mouth ruggedly. Now that I built up the tension, I focused all of my attention on the sweet spot. He moaned loudly as he thrust his hips forward. I had to focus on raising my own ass and moving around a bit awkwardly so as not to touch Braden with my dick that was hard as a rock at that point. I continued kneading his back as I noticed his left-hand twitch and very low-key move closer to his torso. Or so he thought. I intentionally moved my hands more to the right to give him the idea that I am not paying attention to what is happening on the left.

I saw the hand disappear under his stomach as a series of broken moans escaped Braden´s mouth. I laboriously forced my breath to keep steady, even though my head was spinning. I leaned to the left, trying to catch a glimpse of what was happening on the left. But I couldn´t get into the right angle. So I moved back to the spine, hoping he wouldn´t stop. But I saw his left hand return to its original space. As I moved to the left, to mirror my work on the right, I saw the blanket under us ruffled roughly where the head of his enormous dick would be. I leaned to the left to get a bit of a better view, as I returned the pressure to Braden´s sweet spot. He moaned loudly again, thrust his hips forward, and, as if listening to my wishful thinking, the tip of Braden´s dick peeked from under his stomach. I damn near came on the spot, without even touching myself, but the gods of sex were not merciful to me tonight. A drop of thick white liquid escaped from the tip of Braden´s dick and I thought my dick was gonna explode from how hard I was. I bit my lip as a moan escaped my own mouth. I quickly looked at Braden, but my own rogue moan was masked by continuous moans of his own. Fuck. I need to calm down or I´m gonna jizz in my briefs. I tried to distract myself with thoughts of school. Sublimation, ego-psychology, adaptive regression. Subconscious fantasies. What did Freud say about imagination? Fucking Freud! He would probably have a lot to say about my current situation. 

I steeled myself, and moved lower, massaging Braden´s calves. That´s a relatively safe zone, right? Braden´s moans subsided a bit, but not entirely. For a moment, I was safe. But as I moved up, losing myself in his furry legs, my dick started to demand attention again. I made it to the thighs.  
“Here?” I asked quietly, massaging the back of Braden´s thighs.  
“More on the inside.” He said and spread his legs a bit. Oh fuck me, does he not know what he is doing to me? I moved more to the inner side of his thigh and his moans started again. My dick pumping blood again. I found the place, completely frozen stiff. And quiet moans of pain joined those of pleasure. I focused on the job ahead. I did not look at his beautiful plump ass that was almost in my face. Nor did I look how the crack of his ass turns into the perineum and continues inside his jockstrap. I did not see the tuft of hairs and a patch of wrinkled skin of his balls. Nope, I only did my job! When I felt the stiffness of Braden´s thigh fade, I returned to his back, doing slow, rhythmic circles that have put him to sleep previous times. And sure enough, soon his breathing changed into light snoring. I stopped and waited a bit. He was out. Thank god. 

I pulled on a T-shirt and wrapped my still wet towel around my waist. Trying to cover my crotch, I stepped out into the dark and empty hallway and made my way to the bathroom. Not wanting to have to deal with potential showering people, I slid inside a toilet stall. I threw the towel over the door and pulled down my briefs. With a wet slap, my dick hit my stomach as it escaped its cotton prison. The smell of cum was palpable in the air, and my dick was sticky all over. Briefly, I considered if I came without realising, but I doubted that. I sat down on the toilet. That meant all this was precum. My briefs are all wet from all the precum that leaked while I was massaging Braden. Precum. Braden. The image of that thick white substance leaking from Braden´s dick filled my mind as I started stroking my dick. Still fresh in my mind, I summoned the feeling of his skin. The goosebumps. The shivers. The moans. Oh my god, the moans. An image of Braden´s leaking dick returns to me, but it doesn´t end there. I lean in, licking it off. Feeling the salty-sweet taste of his cum on my tongue.  
“Braden!” I moan his name out loud as thick ropes of white cum start shooting from my dick. Fireworks explode behind my eyes as I stretch, thrashing under the all-consuming waves of my orgasm. I slowly relax and sit back onto the toilet. The orgasm leaving my body, I open my eyes, breathing heavily. Cum slowly running down the door of the toilet stall, the highest shot of cum on the eye-level. Fuck, I came hard. First I cum twice because of him, and now I turn into a fucking pressurised hose. I sit for a couple more minutes, completely destroyed. Then I pick up some toiled papers and quickly clean my cum off of the door. It´s not perfect, but I don´t care. I put on my slightly wet underwear, but nothing can bring me down from my cloud right now.   
I return to the room, Braden peacefully snoring. I kill the light and gently turn him around. Even though it´s dark, I can see his dick completely out of the confines of his jockstrap. If I didn´t just cum, I would definitely go crazy right now. I gently pick up his shoulder and turn him around, laying his head on his pillow.   
“Zack?” Braden speaks in a quiet sleepy voice.  
“Yes, Braden?” I ask back.  
“Zack…” He says it like it is an answer on its own a big smile spreads on his face. I can´t help it but stare at him for a minute. He looks so happy. So peaceful. So… beautiful. I crawl to my bed, falling asleep in a matter of seconds.

-

The class was especially tedious today, as the last night still races through my mind. I didn´t get to talk to Braden this morning, but what would I even say? Hey, bro, did you know you´re the hottest, most beautiful person that I have ever met and I think about your ass when I masturbate? Might as well apply for the restraining order beforehand. I was on my way to meet him for lunch when suddenly I got a text from Mikhail.

“Help” As if my anxiety wasn´t bad enough!  
“Dude, wtf, are you ok?” I quickly texted back.  
“Roommate´s car broke down  
He and two other guys were meant to take it to get here  
Now he´s blowing up my phone  
I kinda told him that Braden has a car  
Now he wants you to take them there”  
“Woah   
Slow down dude  
It´s not his car to have demands about”  
“Pls dude  
I don´t want him to break something   
Least of all my face  
You wouldn’t want him to break my face  
Would you?  
My pretty pretty face?”  
“I will ask Braden, but I don´t promise anything!”  
“Thank you!”

Fucking Mikhail! I entered the cafeteria, spotting Braden already sitting at our usual spot. His face lit up with a smile when he spotted me. Oh, Braden, why do you have to do this to me? I smiled back at him.  
“Before you say anything, I have to ask you something, or Mikhail might go crazy,” I try to be as direct as possible.  
“What wrong, bro?” Braden suddenly looked concerned.  
“The Mom… Mikhail´s roommate and his friends are supposed to be helping out at a carnival, but their car broke down,” I started talking, but I could already tell he was not into it.  
“So they need a car to get there,” I finished.  
“I am not borrowing my car to a friend of a friend of a friend. Especially considering you don´t even like him.”  
“It´s fine, I said I´d ask, and I did.” And so I typed my negative response to Mikhail and we went to go get some food. I didn´t even sit back down before my phone started vibrating like crazy.

“Nooooooooo  
No  
No  
Noooo  
Please?  
If he doesn´t want them to drive he can drive himself  
They will pay for the gas  
Dude pls  
Ok listen, he said he will give you two tickets to the party!  
Dude  
DUDE  
C´mon  
For FREE  
Zaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack  
Zackieeeeeee  
Zackypoooooo  
Zacchini  
Big Zacko"

I looked at my phone as we sat down and sighed at the number of unanswered messages. I opened my phone and read them.  
“Ok, what if I told you that they´ll be paying for the gas, and now are offering two tickets to the Halloween party?” I tried to convince Braden.  
“The Full Moon Party? But that shit is so expensive,” he replied.  
“They´re paying. And what do you know, maybe the carnival will be fun.”  
“As long as there are no clowns.”  
“So is that a yes?”   
“Fine, it´s a yes,” he finally caved in. I smiled and shot a text to Mikhail  
“Fine, we´ll do it  
But call me one of those things again and you won´t live through our next practice”   
“*gif of a cat bowing to the Sun*  
Thank youuuu  
They will be outside your dorms in 10  
See u here”  
“Apparently we got like ten minutes,” I announced.  
“They want my car, they can wait for me to finish my lunch.” And so they did.

-

The car ride was not as awkward I expected it to be. The three guys threw their stuff into the trunk of the car and crammed into the backseats. They were apparently going to work in the haunted house, which made their discussion about how to best scare the shit out of people only mildly more acceptable. The Mom-Fucker mostly just stared out of the window, though Braden did get at least a thank you from him. We made it to the town, and one of the guys started navigating Braden to the right place. We parked at a spot designated for the carnival employees and the guys quickly left us to go after their work.   
“Do you want to go check it out, or should we just find a café and camp there?” I asked Braden.  
“Let´s check it out since we are already here,” he decided, so we filed out of the car and headed towards the main entrance. It was early afternoon, and the place was still empty, save for the employees.   
“Oh no…” Said Braden, motioning towards a group of clowns having a smoke.  
“Don´t worry, they only eat children,” I said to him and earned a punch in my arm.  
“Idiot. This was like my only requirement, no clowns.”  
“Zack! Braden!” Mikhail waved at us from one of the tables by a soon-to-be-opened food truck offering various deep-fried foods. He was in a black and white pinstripe suit and his face and hands were covered in face paint depicting a skeleton. He was talking to a beefy dude with insanely wide shoulders. His muscles were not as big as in bodybuilder style, he was leaner, but what muscles were visible looked rock hard. His face, however, held a goofy smile and Clark Kent style glasses.   
“Jack Skellington!” Exclaimed Braden.  
“A what now?” I asked. I mean, Halloween, Jack O´lanterns, skeletons, I get it, but I had a feeling I was missing something.  
“Jack Skellington, from Nightmare Before Christmas! I love that movie.” Suddenly, Braden´s dismay with clowns was forgotten.  
“Nice, at least someone gets it!” Mikhail shot a glance at the beefy dude.  
“Braden, Zack, meet my cousin, Luke. And before you ask, he plays Major League Rugby,” said Mikhail.  
“Seawolf heart and soul. So you´re the swimming friend, you are the one with the car?” Luke inserted himself into the conversation.  
“I guess so” I replied, still unable to peel my eyes from Luke, whose flannel was so tight, the buttons looked about ready to shoot away.  
“They´re playing nearby in a couple of days, so he came to visit,” said Mikhail.  
“Yeah, I missed this place, it´s been a couple of years since I graduated, I wanna see what changed, meet some old friends. By the way, does Ernie still work here?”   
“You know Ernie?” I asked, pretty surprised.  
“Yeah, he got us out of some pretty bad situations. I hear he is not as fun as he used to be though,” explained Luke.  
“Ok guys, I see the big bad boss glaring at me, so I should get to work, but I´ll shoot you a text when I´m on break. Don´t forget the bottle, Luke.” Said Mikhail and awkwardly walked away.  
“I used to be on very good terms with a girl bartending not far from here. I think I´ll go see whether there are still some benefits in this friendship,” Luke laughed, “hell, I should get at least a free beer from this.” He stood up and also left.   
“Why is he walking so weird?” I asked Braden and pointed at Mikhail.  
“I think he is trying to get into character,” said Braden and laughed. We then proceeded to watch multiple videos online that were part of the Nightmare Before Christmas. It´s not really my thing, but the way Braden´s face lit up every time he was explaining something that was happening was well worth it. Eventually, I got a text from Mikhail to meet him by the ticket booth. I left Braden with his videos and went to find out what was up. People already started pouring in and I noticed that all the caravans and attractions finally opened. Clowns walked around with balloons and carnies were shouting, trying to lure people to their stands and activities. Mikhail was standing next to the ticket booth, giving out little pamphlets and “scaring” kids.   
“Hello, little boy, what brings you to this place of horror?” he asked when I approached him.  
“I don´t know, probably the mysterious text message I got,” I replied. He kicked the booth with his heal.  
“Miriam, do you have the envelope for me?” A girl with her skin painted blue finished with a customer and handed out a small envelope to Mikhail.  
“Just remember it´s on your neck,” she said and called for the next person in line. Mikhail looked around and handed me the envelope, leaning close so he could speak quietly.  
“These will work on all the attractions, but don´t go winning all the jackpots.”  
“What?” I took the envelope and slid it in my pocket.   
“Dude, go have some fun with your date! I told you, I am Zaden´s number one fan.”   
“Zaden? Is that supposed to be our shipname or something?” I asked, refusing to believe my own ears.  
“Well, obviously, Brack sounds terrible. Now go before someone notices.” And he, I shit you not, smacked my ass.  
“Dude, you´re the worst. Thank you so much,” I said.  
“At your service, my lord.” He turned his attention to a couple of kids asking to take a picture with him. So I returned to Braden.  
“Bro, you´re not gonna believe this,” I said as I pulled out the envelope. He opened it and his eyes went wide.   
“What the… where did you get them?”   
“What do you think? Mikhail gave them to me. So what do you say? Should we check this place out then?”

Turns out that the tickets worked basically as a currency. We started easy, trying out Skee Ball, Whac-a-mole and darts before things got serious when we discovered a dunk tank. Normally I wouldn´t be a big fan of just trying to hit a mark to make a poor carnival employee fall into a pool of cold water, but this dunk tank had a clown in it. Well, one of them anyway, there was a secondary dunk tank clearly intended for children that had a guy in the water more often than not. But the clown one looked pretty rough. The target was far, and the clown was wearing one of those horrible rubber masks instead of make-up.  
“This fucker is getting dunked,” proclaimed Braden as soon as he realised what was happening there. I kept my comments about poor carnival employees to myself and instead got ready for what would undeniably be a very cathartic moment for Braden. Unfortunately, the opposite was true. We spent an unreasonable amount of tickets trying to dunk this clown.   
“Braden, is it really worth it? If we stay here we won´t have any tickets left for anything else,” I tried to reason with him and saw his face grow softer, still tinged with desperation.  
“Fine, last try then,” Braden responded and went to get another ball. I prayed to anyone who was listening to let the fucking clown be dunked. And as if in response, I locked eyes with the girl handing out the balls. She gave me a sly smirk and stepped behind the target, disappearing out of sight. Braden´s face scrounged up in focus, he inhaled deeply and threw the ball with all his might. It missed the mark by almost a foot, but he was already looking at the clown anyway. With a loud splash, the clown was dunked.  
“YES! Suck a DICK, you stupid clown!” Braden cheered loudly, earning several disgruntled glances from surrounding parents. I quickly lead him away.  
“How about something to eat? I saw a cart taking the tickets as payment,” I suggested.  
“Oh my god yes, I haven´t had cotton candy in years!” He looked like a kid on a Christmas morning, how can anyone refuse anything to such a face? We began walking and soon found the cart I mentioned. Braden got a big ball of blue raspberry cotton candy, while I opted for the multicoloured sweet popcorn. The woman at the cart tried to make us take some candy corn too, but I´ll be dead cold in the ground before I accept candy corn as anything else than a decoration.   
“Bro, were these things always this sweet? I don´t think I can handle it anymore,” said Braden, showing no signs of stopping.   
“How about we go for a swing ride before we finish this?” He asked pointing at a nearby attraction.  
“Sure, but I warn you, I once threw up on it,” I said, laughing at the memory.  
“Ewwww, why?”  
“Turns out corndogs, popcorn, taffy and slushies don´t mix together well.”   
“And your parents let you?”   
“It was my birthday, I was allowed to eat whatever I wanted.”  
“Dude, that is so gross, we are still doing this though.” As I mentioned before, it was impossible to deny him anything. When did I become such a sucker for him? I tried to summon some memories and find out a point in which I clearly lost my mind, but I just remembered the story of making a frog soup. If you throw them in hot water, they will recognise the danger and jump out. But if you have them in cold water, and slowly bring it to boil, they´ll cook before they realise something is wrong. The seats started to move with a jolt. Braden kicked off in the opposite direction and grabbed onto one of the chains on my swing.   
“How´s your stomach?” He asked me gleefully. I made a choking sound and pretended like I´m throwing up as the swing ride sped up and the centrifugal force started to tear us apart. Braden was pulling on his chains and turning around, doing all kinds of crazy shit while laughing maniacally. All I could do was just stare. The unabashed joy in his face was out of this world. With the cotton candy in his hand, I could easily imagine him as a kid doing the same thing. He caught me staring and shot me a sly grin. I instinctively looked away. He went back to his shenanigans soon enough. 

We went to explore the rest of the park afterwards, as the sun set. As it turns out, I have quite a knack for air rifles. I did not manage to hit any jackpots, but I managed to win a sizeable teddy bear holding a heart. Obviously, I gave it to Braden. He got red all the way to behind his ears and I played it off as a joke, ignoring the nagging voice in the back of my head that was just squealing with delight. It didn´t take long before my pocket buzzed with a message from Mikhail.   
“Same spot as before in 5?” I sent back a thumbs-up emoji and veered Braden towards the place. When we made it, Mikhail was already half done with a hot dog and bowl of fries.   
“Someone did not listen to coach yesterday,” I greeted him.  
“Oh shut up, it´s a cheat day,” he said and looked us up and down.  
“I see someone is good with an air rifle,” he nudged his head towards the bear Braden was holding.  
“Not in the slightest, but Zack was doing pretty well,” Braden replied. A smile spread on Mikhail´s face as he wiggled his eyebrows at me. I rolled my eyes and telepathically sent him a clear message to fucking stop.  
“Hey guys,” Luke joined us at the table, grinning like a mad man.  
“I´ll take it she was happy to see you?” Mikhail prodded.  
“She did not change a bit,” he said as he put a small bottle with green liquid on the table. A mouthwash, proudly proclaiming to kill 99% of bacteria in your mouth.  
“A mouthwash?” I say a bit confused.  
“Well I had to get over the ocean somehow,” Luke laughed.  
“Dude, Luke has been in Paris last week, this is French absinthe,” Mikhail explained eyeing the bottle curiously.  
“I met this girl while I was jogging and we started to talk, one thing lead to another, we had some fun, and then we had fun every night up until I left. Her dad is making these himself using some old family recipe. That shit is crazy strong. There is also a very specific way to drink it, but I don´t have the shit for that so we´re gonna have to improvise,” spilt out of Luke.  
“You can count me out, dudes, I´m driving tonight,” said Braden.  
“Yeah, and I don´t want to get poisoned by some home-made mouthwash,” I added my two cents.  
“Shut up bro, you´re doing one with us,” Mikhail cut me off and poured the liquid into three small plastic cups. Luke pulled out a spork and put a sugar cube on it. Mikhail took a bottle of sparkling water and started pouring it over the sugar cube into the cup.  
“Dude, you were supposed to get still water,” complained Luke.  
“They didn´t have any,” Mikhail responded while filling the other cups.  
“Enchanté,” he said and drank his cup.  
“You say that when you meet someone, you moron,” replied Luke and started sipping his.  
“Don´t worry, if you get fucked up from one shot, I can drag you back to the car,” said Braden slapping my back. Here goes nothing.  
“If I die, my ghost will make sure you´ll never get your medical license,” I say and drink my cup. A minty flavour assaults my mouth before it´s overpowered by a terrible liquorice taste. I swallow and feel the heat travelling down my throat.  
“You are supposed to enjoy it, it´s not a shot, you animals,” scolded us Luke.  
“Well, I don´t feel anything, I should probably make more,” says Mikhail and starts pouring himself a second cup. I felt more hesitant.  
“You didn´t even give it time to work, you´re gonna get fucked up, bro,” Luke sounded more like an older brother than an older cousin at that point. Mikhail did not listen and took another shot. Luke told us a story about how he and the French girl had sex while drinking absinthe and how it was life-changing for him.   
“How so? Isn´t it just flavoured alcohol?” I asked.  
“Not really, it has some herbs in it, they enhance your senses. It works differently on everyone, but that is why the artists loved it so much. For me it´s mostly about light and sounds, everything just heightens, but I can suddenly hear all the sounds separately, standing next to a busy road suddenly turns into a symphony,” explained Luke.  
“Do you feel anything yet, Zack?” Braden asked me, but I barely heard him. My arm was on fire. Waves of heat were pulsing from one spot. I looked and saw that Braden grabbed my arm to get my attention. The heat was overwhelming but comforting. I felt his energy pour into my body and I wanted more. I looked up and saw his face. It was like a perfectly clean portrait when everything else is smudged. I saw the curve of his neck, his chin, his lips. Those gorgeous full lips. I saw every wrinkle in those soft pink cushions. They were moving. I tilted my head, fascinated by the movement. My focus moved to his cute little nose and two pools of chocolate above. The bottomless pools of chocolate.   
“Chocolate,” I mumbled and leaned closer. I could imagine myself drowning in those eyes, and I would be happy about it.   
“So happy,” I said. Leaning ever closer, a scent attacked my nostrils. Yes, there was smoke and sugar and trash and people, but there was also something else. Something… so…alluring. I inhaled deeply and then it hit me. Braden.   
“You were right,” I dived back into the depths of his eyes before a loud crash brought me back to reality. Mikhail has thrown himself on the table, laughing uncontrollably. I looked around. Seeing everything as if I saw it for the first time. That heat came calling to me again. Braden´s hand on my shoulder this time.   
“Zack? Are you alright?” Braden actually looked a little worried.  
“I am so fine. I am great. You are so pretty right now.” I can´t believe those words escaped my mouth. Braden turned red again.   
“You said you wanted chocolate? What was that all about?” He was laughing now.  
“Yes, the chocolate in your eyes.” Ok mouth, you can stop now, stop saying things. But before things could get any more awkward, Mikhail grabbed my shirt and pulled me forward.  
“Duuuuude, look at the staaaars…” he said, pointing up, “they´re everywhere. There is so many.” I looked up. He was so right. Where did this many stars come from? I just kept staring up, completely entranced by them. Bit by bit, my mind came back to me, I could still feel the buzz of alcohol, however little I drank, but the other effects left me. I looked to my left and saw Braden looking at his phone, looking a bit bored.  
“What… how long has it been?” I asked.  
“Since you had the shot or since you started to stare at the sky?” Braden replied.  
“Both?”  
“Over half an hour on the first one, and solid fifteen minutes for the stars.”  
“You are such lightweights,” laughed Luke and I suddenly remembered the rest of the world. Maybe the effects weren´t completely out of my system.   
“Can we go do something now?” Asked Braden.  
“But Mikhail…” I started saying but Luke interrupted me.  
“Is an ass, he has to go back to work in ten minutes, I´ll take care of him.”  
“Thanks, bro,” I say and stand up, leaving with Braden.

We go through the rest of the carnival, trying basically everything. Braden has unabashedly taken hold of his advantage, now that I was buzzed from the absinth. Eventually, we find ourselves in front of the haphazardly built haunted house.   
“Bro, don´t even think about it,” said Braden before I was even able to open my mouth.  
“Why not? It´s fun.”  
“Because I don´t want to go to a stupid haunted house okay?” That was not a good enough reason for me.  
“Let´s make a deal, what do you want?” I prodded.  
“Hmm, you´ll do my laundry… for a month!” Braden said with a shit-eating grin.  
“Oh, so you think that if you come up with an unreasonable demand I will back down? If only to wipe that grin off your face, I accept.” His mouth closed.  
“I hate you.”  
“No, you don´t. Now let´s go,” I said and dragged him in. We left two tickets at the door and entered through a hole in the wall, draped over with black fabric. Immediately we are hit with music. The creepy carnival type, with howling wind and little bells with occasional squeaking door. The only illumination we had were thin strips of light coming from cables on the floor.  
“Fuckfuckfuckfuck…” Braden started whispering under his breath. We walked through the hallway where strips of black cloth hung from the ceiling, into another hallway with mirrors instead of walls. A bloodied corpse laid on the floor, and as we were passing it, something big and fuzzy fell from the top.   
“FUCKing shit…” exclaimed Braden, before he went back to his mumbling. We turned and appeared outside a booth with claw marks and bloodstains marked ´tickets´. Inside sat a clown lady that cackled maniacally and called us ´fresh meat´. Braden has avoided her as much as he could. Next up was a little bridge over nothing, except someone was under it and tried to grab my ankle. That would have probably gotten me too if my reactions weren´t slowed by the alcohol. In a weird turn of events, the absinthe made me look like more of a badass than I actually was. We entered a very tight hallway with a slit in the wall, allowing us to see two eyeless humanoid creatures with gigantic teeth smiling at us and making hungry sounds. As the hallway got wider, we thought that part was behind us, but a flash of light came from under us, illuminating a clown standing right in front us, smiling creepily.  
“Are you lost, boys? I can show the way out,” he said. Braden yelped and I actually felt my heart stop for a bit.  
“Motherfucker…” I breathed out. And the realisation dawned on me. The face, even though it was covered by make-up, and the voice. It was actually him. I had to stifle a smile. I felt a tug on my hand.  
“Zack, please move,” said Braden shakily and I suddenly realised he was holding my hand. My whole world became reduced to that single connection between us. Braden was holding my hand. Someone jumped at us with a bloody axe and another loud ´fuck´ escaped Braden´s mouth as he squeezed my hand hard. But I was smiling like a doofus. We continued on through various creepy encounters and jump scares until we got to presumably the last hallway, with a small hole at the end marked ´exit´.   
“Oh thank god,” exclaimed Braden and strode forward. I was right behind him and noticed the floor moving a second earlier than I should have. With a sound of a gunshot and a flash of light, another clown sat up with a demonic cackle and ran past us. Braden turned, a curled into my chest. I instinctively caught him in my arms.  
“Please make it stop, I wanna go out,” his voice was extremely shaky and I could feel his heart pumping like a locomotive even through our clothes. Without much thinking, I wrapped my arms around him.  
“I got you, don´t worry,” I said calmly, and we waited there for a moment as I felt his heart slow down. We went ahead, this time unbothered by any clowns, and crawled through the hole. It was a bit of a lobby, with arrows towards toilets and a little booth with a woman selling polaroid pictures of those that went through the house.   
“I need to go take a leak, I´ll meet you outside,” said Braden and headed towards the toilet, swearing under his breath. I walked up to the woman as she picked up a photo from the machine.   
“Awww…” she sighed as she looked at it, “that might be the sweetest picture we ever made here.” She handed me the picture for another ticket. You could clearly see Braden, at this point almost taller than me, bent and folded into my arms as I smile like an idiot. What would Braden think of this? Wouldn´t he be weirded out by having to seek solace in his gay roommate? I thanked the woman and shoved the picture in my back pocket. 

When Braden walked out of the house he was as pale as a vampire.   
“I wanna go sit somewhere,” he said.  
“How about there?” I pointed at the last part of the carnival we have yet to try, the Ferris Wheel.  
“Anywhere but here,” Braden replied and we went towards the wheel. After a bit of waiting in the line, we sat together in one of the pods and Braden loudly exhaled.  
“That was absolutely awful,” he said, shuffling in his seat.  
“I quite enjoyed myself actually,” I decided to tease him a bit.  
“Oh shut up before I start thinking you have no soul.” We talked about nothing much for a bit, just so he can get his mind off the haunted house, as the Ferris Wheel slowly brought us up, we were almost at the top when Braden said:  
“From up here, the carnival looks a lot less scary and much more like an old movie.”  
“If this was a movie, and we were the protagonists, we would be making out right now,” I said without much thinking, trying to shield myself with humour like usual.  
“I did promise you some practice, didn´t I?” he said, suddenly staring right into my eyes. My throat tightened, I was speechless once again.  
“What? You don´t have to… I mean not that I…”   
“Shhh, you should really get it into your head that I mean the things I say,” he cut me off and planted his soft lips on mine. My legs turned into jelly and my world started spinning. Here it was again. Kissing Braden. It felt as unreal as before. I leaned in and his tongue made its way into my mouth. With fireworks exploding in my brain again, a gently bit down before I sent my own tongue to make its way into Braden´s mouth. The kiss ended way too soon. But to be entirely honest, I would say that even if we kissed the whole night. As we started descending and came into view of more people, Braden was already in the mode of not giving out anything that just happened, but we laughed it off, like all our awkward moments.   
“Dude, we still have over two hours before we can go back. I think I need a coffee and something to eat if I´m to drive us back alive,” Braden said after he yawned.  
“Well, we have five tickets left, we could get two hotdogs each for that,” I replied, counting the tickets we had left.   
“Sounds like a plan, and then we go find some coffee.”  
“Ouch, did I make a mistake introducing you to coffee?” I laughed.  
“Shut up and get me some hotdogs,” Braden punched my arm and we walked away from the wheel.

We ate some hotdogs and fortunately found a Starbucks that was opened until midnight thanks to the carnival. The barista welcomed us with a wide smile. Quite admirable considering it was almost 10 PM.  
“Welcome to Starbucks, what can I get for you? Would you like to try some of our October specialities?”  
“October specialities?” Braden asked.  
“Yeah, I think you´d love our Pumpkin Spiced Lattes. If you have some carnival tickets left, you can use one to get a second PSL for half the price.” The barista was basically singing, I wondered how much caffeine travelled in his veins. Braden looked at me quizzically, and as much as I wanted just a simple black coffee, I am in no position to turn down a discount.  
“Fine, but don´t sweeten mine at all,” I replied.  
“Sorry, can´t do, the flavours are in the syrup, but I can give you only half a pump maybe?”   
“Fine,” I sighed and fished out our last ticket.   
Braden paid, and we went to sit down on the big sofa.  
“Nice! Functioning Wi-Fi. We have like an hour and a half before we have to return, that is the perfect amount of time to watch the whole Nightmare Before Christmas. It´s time I educate you.” He spent a moment looking for a streaming website, and the barista brought our drinks in the meantime. I sipped on mine. While it was way too sweet for me, it wasn´t terrible.   
“Ooooh shit! It´s like a dessert in a cup,” Braden started sipping his latte.   
“And it smells like mum´s pumpkin pie.” A big smile spread on his face, and I was hooked again. He patted the spot next to him on the sofa and offered me one of his headphones.

Between Braden´s commentary and the fact that we sat so close to each other, I didn´t catch much of the movie. And when Braden rested his head on my shoulder, my heart damn near leapt from my chest. When we made it back to Braden´s car, Mom-Fucker and his friends already waited for us. Even though they were out of their costumes and wigs, their make-ups were still terrifying. Of course, all three of them had to be clowns. The drive was very tense, as Braden´s eyes were constantly flashing to the back, and he almost swerved into a ditch when one of the guys was telling a story about some dude and decided to use his clown laugh. But we eventually made it to the dorms and went to our room. Braden undressed and plopped on his bed.  
“Ugh, I am going straight to bed. I am so dead,” he said, face buried in his pillow.   
“Goodnight, bro. I think I´m gonna head to the showers though,” I replied.  
“Goodnight.”

The showers were empty at this time of night, and I let the hot water take away everything, leaving my mind blank, if even for just a moment. I spent so long in the shower, that my legs started to get stiff from standing in one spot and I realised I was actually falling asleep. I dried myself off and returned to the room where I promptly fell on my own bed. I was in the shower for over half an hour. Damn, I really do space out. I was slowly drifting off into the unconsciousness when I heard Braden quietly say my name.  
“Zack?”  
“Yeah?” I responded groggily.  
“I can´t sleep. I keep seeing those fucking clowns.” Braden said.  
“Dude, they´re not real, don´t worry about it.” Then it was quiet for a moment.  
“Zack?” Braden asked again.  
“Yeah?”  
“Can I sleep in your bed tonight? I don´t wanna be alone.” That woke me up. I did not see that coming.  
“Of course, dude. Come here.” I tried to sound nonchalant, but I think my voice betrayed my eagerness. Braden shuffled on his bed and I heard his feet hit the floor. I moved closer to the wall to make space for him. He laid down facing me.  
“Thank you.” His warm breath still smelled of coffee, but I didn´t care because endorphins were flooding my system.  
“Anything, bro,” I responded. And it was quiet for a while again.   
“Zack?” he almost whispered.  
“Yeah?”  
“Can you hold me?” My heart skipped a beat.  
“Do you want to spoon?”  
“That would be nice.” He turned around and I pressed my body on him, throwing my arm around his chest. A wave of happiness washed over me. I felt like holding him was the most important thing in the world. I felt like I was finally doing something right. I felt needed. And most of all, deep, deep down, holding all my fears and anxieties at bay, I felt wanted. 

_

I woke up to the sound of controlled breathing. I opened my eyes and saw Braden working on his Tai Chi. I love watching him as he is methodically going through the various poses, face completely focused. He finished his last movements, and without even bothering to open his eyes he says:  
“Your turn.”  
“Happily,” I respond and get out of bed. I assume the pose and centre myself. I move through the motions he taught me as he is quietly correcting me. My opinion has truly turned inside out since the first time I caught him practising. I could imagine one day doing this somewhere on a beach. First thing in a morning on a vacation, then going for a nice breakfast and decide what are we going to do that day. I stumble.   
“Don´t panic, move slowly, with intent,” he says quietly, gently leading me forward. Thanks, brain, can you please choose a different time to distract me with impossibilities? Anyway. I tried my best, but I wasn´t able to get back into it.   
“You finish up, I´m gonna hit the shower,” said Braden and left the room. I slumped to the floor. The dams keeping my dark thoughts at bay suddenly bursting all at once. I turned on the TV, hoping to find something that would distract me. I am only partially successful when Braden comes back.  
“Bro, I was thinking, we need to hit up a costume store if we are going to a costume party tonight,” said Braden as his towel spiralled to the floor as usual.  
“With what money?” I ask, not meeting his optimistic tone.  
“The money I got yesterday for gas. Let´s just walk everywhere for a while and we can use the money for costumes. We can buy the cheapest ones they have. What´s wrong, dude? You seemed pretty stoked about the party yesterday,” he said, suddenly serious, and sat down next to me on the bed.  
“Uhm… it´s nothing. I think I just didn´t wake up yet,” I try to deflect his probing. He completely didn´t buy it.  
“Sure, how about we watch TV for a while then?” He pushes me towards the head of the bed and flops down with his head in my lap.  
“You can play with my hair, it´s very relaxing, you know.” He smiles at me and I suddenly get the feeling he knows full well what he is doing. But how can I refuse such an offer? I plunge my hands into his hair as he turns on a teleshopping channel. We stay like that for a good long while, and to my own surprise, it does make me feel better. 

-

It was one hell of a walk, but we managed to find a costume store. We get in and find the place decently empty. A man behind the cash desk is going through some papers.  
“Hello, sorry to bother, but where is everything?” I ask. He laughs.  
“You come to a costume store, on a Halloween morning, and wonder where the costumes went?”  
“I suppose that´s fair, do you have anything left? Preferably on the cheap side.”   
“I have…” he turns around and walks to the stand with small plastic bags, “a devil and a minion.” Oh god, how low did we just sink? I can hear Braden stifling his laugh. He is so going as the minion.  
“Anything else?” I ask.  
“Of course,” he points towards some nice-looking costumes, “but I wouldn´t call them cheap.”   
“Bro, they don´t even have the face thing, Mikhail was pretty clear that that is necessary,” Braden points out.  
“Do you have any of the things you put on your face?” He asks the man.   
“You mean masks, I suppose? No, all sold out, but there is a sex shop three streets down, I´m sure they will have some.” We are so fucked.  
“Dude, listen. We go there, get the masks, then we hit up a thrift shop and get crafty,” Braden suggests. I look at him confused.  
“Get crafty? Last time I got crafty I was in middle school and I glued my thighs together. That shit hurt like hell.” Braden burst out laughing. This was almost worth the pain.  
“Thank you, sorry we bothered you,” he says to the man and drags me out of the store. We walk down the street, looking for the sex shop. Thankfully, it wasn´t hard. We walk in, pretending like we are not dying of awkward on the inside.  
“Good morning, how can I help you spice up your sex life?” A cheerful voice sounds from a row of leather accessories. A twenty-something girl appears from the aisle. I feel the blood rushing to my cheeks and look at Braden who is already as red as a tomato. Then the girls burst out laughing.  
“Oh don´t worry, I´m just teasing you. Let me guess, you woke up today and realised you had nothing to wear tonight so you went to Dave, but he sent you here?” she asked.  
“Well, yeah, how did you know?” I say, perplexed.  
“Because you´re like the fifth or sixth today. I suppose you are looking for masks? Do you want lace, leather, or cheap old plastic?” She asks, leading us down the aisle and past a row of colourful dildos.   
“Cheap old plastic I´m afraid,” I reply, eyeing the masks.  
“Pity, the lacy ones are super cute, well, here you go, when you decide, just bring them to the desk.” She points and leaves us. Our choices are between bright pink, bloody red or the last gold one. Why can´t there be a black one? Nevertheless, I grab the gold one, before Braden has a chance to argue. He rolls his eyes at me and grabs the red one. We make our way to the desk.  
“Do you want a bag?” Asked the girl as she´s ringing us up. Braden just shakes his head.  
“And you´re sure you don´t want something more fun? We just got a new batch butt-plugs, they come with an app that controls the vibrations,” she asked and Braden turned red again. Sometimes my complexion really plays in my favour.   
“I… we don´t… we´re not… no, thank you,” he stammers.   
“Well you know where to find us when you change your mind,” she says and winks as she hands Braden his change and our masks. We quickly leave the store, still feeling her gaze in our backs.  
“So, where´s the thrift store?” I asked, but Braden seemed lost in thought.  
“Braden? Thrift store?”  
“Oh, right! Yeah, I think we passed one on our way here.” He replies, still half lost in his own head.  
“Did thinking about butt-plugs eat up all your brainpower?” I tease him.  
“Shut up, I´m not thinking about butt-plugs!”   
“Then what are you thinking about?” I probe relentlessly.  
“Fine, I was thinking about butt-plugs, so what?” He said defensively, but I just laughed. We made our way to the thrift store and started looking. Eventually, we managed to find a t-shirt with the Batman symbol, black pants and a black sheet, that we can use for capes. Braden scored green tights, red shirt and a hideous belt with a big faux gold buckle. At least I don´t have to be Robin.

After we made it back to our room, we got to work. Countless hours of hard work – okay maybe it was like half an hour, but it sure didn´t feel like it – passed, we had two very haphazard costumes ready to go. The masks did not match, but what can you do.  
“We have lots of time left, would you mind quizzing me on some stuff? The teacher in one of our classes has been threatening with a pop-quiz for a while now, and I feel like it is going to happen soon,” Braden asked me, once we were done. I was sitting on my bed, watching TV, as Braden finished the pin with the Robin R for his shirt.  
“Of course, bring it on,” I didn´t even hesitate. Braden took his notes and plopped on my bed. With his head in my lap, and those big puppy eyes staring into my soul, I could be anywhere, doing anything, and be happy. I started quizzing him as he wanted, and, not gonna lie, he needed a bit of work. Not that I can talk, but I don´t care about my grades anyway if I´ll pass I´ll be happy. But I knew that Braden cared. I could tell he was in peak focus, either staring into nowhere or forcefully shutting his eyes when he was trying to find the right answer. After a while, he also started making little circles on my thigh, seemingly without notice. Well, I noticed. I noticed a lot. And as hard as I tried, I could see the bulge in my briefs expand. Braden´s fingers danced dangerously close to it, and I feared that he will notice any moment. Salvation, however, came from an unexpected source. A knock on the door.  
“Who is it?” I asked.  
“Your Fairy Godmother,” said forced, high-pitched voice, “I came to prepare my Cinderellas for the ball.” Mikhail, what a fucking dork. Braden jumped up and put on his t-shirt and pants. He then opened the door as I slid back on my bed and bent my knee, covering my raging boner.  
“Bibbidi bobbidy boo bitches!” Mikhail stormed in with a big bag. I wanted to ask what he was doing here, but I didn´t have to.  
“So! I was originally supposed to just drop off your tickets, but then I thought, the two lost causes such as yourselves are probably desperately in need of a Halloween makeover. Show me your terrifyingly bad costumes so I can dramatically throw them across the room and then the real fun can begin.” He said, waving his arms around, and I noticed, he actually held a small sparkly stick with a star at the end.   
“Is that supposed to be a wand?” I asked, facepalming.  
“You bet!” Mikhail replied and suddenly, the whole thing started flashing and making poorly recorded jingling sounds. Then he noticed our costumes strewn on Braden bed and started heartily laughing.  
“Oh my god thank you, I was hoping was something like this,” he continued laughing for a while more,” but let me present to you your actual costumes.” He dramatically opened the bag and started pulling things out. Braden just sat on my bad, looking a bit defeated, but still curious.   
“It pays off being friends with the drama people. Roomie got me into their costume storage, so I snatched these. I may have forgotten the tunics, but no one´s gonna wear much today anyway.” He unceremoniously shoved the Batman and Robin aside and laid out his options. Sandals for both, red skirt thingy and a sash from the same material, a decorated golden belt, golden bracers and a golden laurel wreath. Then he pulled out two golden armlets inlaid with colourful stones, headband and this huge necklace thingy in the same style, and leather shorts with a long flappy front inlaid with same materials.   
“Pharaoh for you,” he gave me a look,” and this gladiator thing for you.” Another glance, this time at Braden.  
“Dude, I think that is Greek, gladiators were in Rome,” said Braden.  
“Eh, whatever, still hot! So, get dressed and I will meet you at the spot. But be quick, you still need to get painted.” Mikhail exclaimed and turned to leave.  
“Painted?” I asked, confused.  
“Yeah, bro, painted, it´s a full moon party.” 

I looked at Braden, I didn´t want to devalue the costumes he made, but you can´t argue that the ones from Mikhail were dope.  
“Fine, at least we won´t embarrass ourselves,” he conceded and undressed again. We sort of helped each other into the costumes, trying to figure out how to put them on. Eventually, we managed and looked at ourselves in the mirror. Braden whipped out his phone and posed with one arm behind his head. I squatted and he snapped a picture.   
“Well, let´s go then before our Fairy Godmother gets mad,” Braden said and we left.

It was way too cold for this kind of clothing, but at least it wasn´t far. We arrived at the venue, an abandoned factory turned gallery, now prepared for the party. Mikhail was already waiting for us, golden shoes, green tights and gloves, golden belt and shoulder pads. Aquaman… figures.   
“Look at you boys! Too bad neither one of you is looking for a prince, I rather enjoyed my role in this,” he greets us as we approach.   
“Just so you know, inside it´s a mask-on zone. I got Hailey waiting to paint us, so we don´t have to stand in line. Follow me,” he motions us in and we do. We step into a room already full of people, with several people standing around with paints and brushes. Mikhail leads us to a petite girl with wavy blonde hair reaching all the way to her ass. That must take forever to brush.   
“Hailey, my sweet summer flower, my beautiful honeybee, my gorgeous cherry blossom, my…” Mikhail started, but she interrupted him.  
“You´re late! You know I have work to do!”  
“I know, I am so very sorry, I was just helping these poor souls…”  
“Save it for someone who gives a damn, you owe me for this,” she aggressively opened her paint can and went to work. I looked around, people were getting painted all over the place. Some in simple spirals, but some with more elaborate designs, resembling Mikhail´s tattoos. Hailey covered Mikhail´s tattoos with green paint and then added some swirls on his arms and then went to town on Braden. Eventually, it was my turn. Everything went fine until I discovered something new about myself. My nipples are extremely ticklish. And by extremely, I mean I will scream and jump extremely. But that was not the end. When Hailey´s brush passed over my nipple, a yapping sound escaped my throat, I jumped backwards and one of my sandals slipped and I went tumbling down. I did not fall all the way to the floor, however. Someone caught me. Someone with muscular arms with defined veins. I turned around.  
“Sorry, dude. Thanks for catching me,” I said. I then got a good look at him. Soft brown hair styled up in a perfect wave, chiselled abs and chest, reminiscing of a Greek good, pierced nipple, several piercings in his left ear and three dots of metal in each clavicle.   
“No problem, bro. The pleasure was all mine,” he replied and winked. He fucking winked at me. I was completely stunned for a moment. What just happened? Mikhail dragged me back to Hailey, I noticed that all three of them were laughing.  
“Not my fault, dude, you found this prince all on your own,” said Mikhail in between laughing.  
“I´ll stay clear of the nipples then,” added Hailey. She added some finishing touches to me.  
“Will you also want hair chalk?” she asked and grabbed a small box.  
“I´ll pass,” said Mikhail, pointing at his head, “but do them.”  
“It´s not going to colour your hair, it´s too dark for that, but it will shine in the UV light, it´s gonna come out with shampoo pretty easily so don´t worry,” explained Hailey to me, and added the chalk into our hair. I got yellow and Braden ended up with red. His hair, however, changed completely.  
“Awesome, well, I´ll see you all inside!” Exclaimed Mikhail and disappeared into the crowd.  
“Thanks, Hailey,” said Braden, adjusting his mask.  
“You are welcome, at least someone had a decent upbringing,” she gave us a smile and we left her to work on other people.

We weave our way through the crowd towards the ticket checking and get in. The venue comprises of three big rooms. One sort of lounge, with lights, three bars and some places to sit, an outside area mainly for smokers and one that is basically just a big dance floor. But on the dance floor, the only source of light are the UV lights, so you mostly only see the chalked hair, paint, and white components of clothing. I look at Braden and come to a realisation. With red hair and the mask, I probably wouldn´t even recognise him if I didn´t know it was him.   
“You know, I wouldn´t even recognise you if I didn´t know it was you,” I tell him.  
“Please, this is not a movie, no one is stupid enough to be fooled by a mask.” I look at the bar.  
“Damn it, I didn´t take my fake ID, I´m such an idiot,” I realised.  
“Chill, bro,” Braden replies and pull out his own fake ID, “I´ll get you something too.” And so we move towards the bar and soon enough we are sipping on Bloody Mary´s.  
“This is the only drink I recognised there, sorry if it´s gross,” Braden says.  
“Whatever, bro, as long as there´s alcohol in it,” we both laugh at my poor attempt at a joke. We decide to go check the dance floor out and as we enter a familiar song comes on. I smile as I see Braden´s eyes widen in excitement. But he didn´t feel too confident about it before.  
´I stay out too late, got nothing in my brain´ Taylor Swift blares from the speakers. I start dancing as much as one can with a cocktail in their hand.  
“Come on, dude, I know you love it,” I tease him, and he joins me in my awkwardness. We properly Shake It Off and then return to the side of the dance floor, laughing.   
“Bro, I´m telling you, she knows what she´s doing! Everyone should stop talking shit about her and just enjoy her absolute bangers!” Braden shouts over the speakers.  
“I have nothing against her, dude, if you wanna blast her music in the room, I´m fine with that!” I shout back. I mean, I´m not super into it, but anything that makes Braden happy is worthy of my attention. We sip our drinks and listen to some more music before we finish them. We silently agree to get more and move back to the bar. On our way there, however, a guy in a black and gold wraparound skirt, golden armbands and neck braces and stylized jackal head was passing us. Stepping onto some spilt beer, he yelped, slipped and fell on his ass, his jackal head dislodging and half falling off.   
“Hey, Blayke!” I greet him, he looks at me, confused for a moment. I offer him a hand.  
“Zack! Hey, dude, thanks! Is Braden here too?” he says and looks around. I look at Braden, grinning,  
“Yeah, but he had to go to the bathroom,” I replied.  
“Cool, I´ll see you around then.” He fixes his head and moves on.  
“I told you, bro, no one can recognise you. You can do whatever you want tonight as long as that mask stays on,” I say and slap his shoulder.  
“Maybe you are right. Isn´t that Mikhail cousin?” says Braden and points to a small mountain of a man in a white and purple roman toga, displaying his sculpted body to the world. He seems to be in some deep conversation with Catwoman while Aquaman stands next to them, hiding something behind a fire extinguisher. We decide to head towards them, but Luke and Catwoman disappear in the crowd. Mikhail notices us though.   
“How are you enjoying your night boys?” He asks, wriggling his eyebrow again.  
“Everything is pretty cool so far. Braden really likes the music.” That earns me a jab to my ribs.  
“Well, I´m about to make this party even better for you!” He shoves his hand back behind the fire extinguisher and pulls out a familiar bottle of green liquid.  
“Is your cousin ok with us drinking his alcohol though?” asks Braden.  
“I have introduced him to a certain gymnast friend of mine. She can scratch her head with her feet and not even break a sweat. I think he´s going to be just fine. Give me your cups,” he orders and I, personally, have no issue with complying. I am actually looking forward to seeing what Braden will think. Mikhail pours us very generously and tops it off with some bubbly orange liquid.  
“That is so much, dude. And I distinctly remember Luke giving specific directions on how you should drink this, “ I say to him.  
“If you don´t want it, leave it, dude. I am not going through the trouble of making it up to his standards, it´s gonna work anyway.” And so we drink and talk for a while. When I feel the absinthe settling in, I suggest we go to the dance floor.

The world bursts into colour. I feel like Alice in Wonderland. I look at Braden and by the look of wonder on his own face, I think he feels the same. We get to dancing, and once again, I have eyes only for him. I feel the music in my bones, not even focusing on my moves, just letting my body do what it wants. Braden dances like a god. A god of hot dancing twinks. But I may be biased. I don´t know how long we dance like that, but at some point, the music stops and the Dj says something. Next thing I know, a slow guitar plays from the speakers. Some people leave the dance floor, some others come, and start slowly moving… in couples. I hesitate and look at Braden, I know that we are drunk on absinthe and Bloody Marys, but when he takes my hand and leans to me, all my worries dissolve. I also recognise the song. The Only Exception by Paramore. I never really listened to it too hard, but with my senses all out of order, I tune in as the second verse starts. The lyrics hit me. They hit me hard. I look into Braden´s gorgeous eyes and feel the chorus resonate with my entire being. And in that instance, I knew what I had to do. I leaned in and pressed my lips against his. I expected resistance, but there was none. We both dissolved into one being, connected by some unseen force beyond our arms and mouths. Warmth spread through my whole body, peace and happiness igniting every cell as fireworks exploded in my mind once again. At that moment, my life was perfect, and I hoped we could stay like that for eternity.


End file.
